Page: About

Dr. Nummer is currently the Extension Food Safety Specialist and Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Sciences at Utah State University. His specialty is retail and food service food safety and small business food safety (manufacturing).

Dr Nummer is a subject matter expert in food microbiology relevant to almost all food commodities (meats, poultry, seafood, ROP, low moisture foods, refrigerated foods, and more). He is a subject matter expert in the US FDA model Food Code, Sanitation, Employee behavior regarding food safety, training and education, HACCP, and GFSI (ISO 22000). Dr. Nummer is fluent in the new FSMA PC For Human Foods and is an FSPCA approved lead trainer, FDA Juice HACCP, Seafood HACCP and USDA Meat HACCP. He has also worked in food packaging, bottled water and egg industry HACCP.

Academia: Dr. Nummer directs a food safety manager certification program and has an active outreach-based research program, including serving as Director of the Retail Foodservice Food Safety Consortium. Dr. Nummer serves as a U.S. process authority and HACCP coordinator for the state of Utah. He offers workshops in FSMA, HACCP, Acidified Foods, Sanitation, Safe Quality Foods, and Behavior-based food safety; and teaches Food Microbiology at the University level. He has authored over 100 publications, including peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, abstracts, fact sheets and newsletter articles. Prior to joining Utah State University, Dr. Nummer was a research scientist at the University of Georgia where he worked on food preservation safety issues. Dr. Nummer received his PhD from Clemson University and has worked at the U.S. EPA, University of Georgia, and Tennessee Tech University.

Industry: Dr. Nummer has been intimately involved in a food biotech company in South Carolina, a small beverage and food company out of Athens, Georgia in the 1990’s, and his current food safety work. Dr. Nummer is a Master Brewer and has owned and operated a small brewery. He trained at the Graf zu Toering Brauerei in Bavaria. More recent, Dr. Nummer worked with some of the largest food and food service companies including Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Outback Restaurants, and many more.

Professional: Dr. Nummer is active in several science organizations including the Conference for Food Protection, International Association for Food Protection, Institute for Food Technologists, Association of Food and Drug Officials, and National Environmental Health Association.